Nose Cone Dent On Florida-Bound Plane Remains Mystery

A bird is not to blame for a dent in the nose of a Northwest Airlines plane that landed in Tampa, according to federal officials. Federal Aviation Administration spokeswoman Kathleen Bergen said Tuesday that the aircraft’s fiberglass nose cone and an antenna were shipped to Minneapolis for analysis.

An FAA spokeswoman in Chicago said officials haven’t determined what caused the dent yet, but there is “definitely no evidence of a bird strike.” Bergen said the crew aboard Flight 478 from Detroit reported a loud bang Monday and then the aircraft’s radar became inoperative. The aircraft landed safely. … the crew reported the bang while flying at 18,000 feet — an altitude too high for a bird. – local6

0 thoughts on “Nose Cone Dent On Florida-Bound Plane Remains Mystery”

This is very interesting. I wonder what could have caused the damage at 18,000 feet. A meteorite? A large chunk of ice? (Or, some other object from a higher flying plane? There have been recent reports of large chunks of ice falling from the sky) Satellite or space debris? Maybe it’s just a celestial prank: Zeus said, “I’m going to poke that thing in the nose.”

Yeah considering the aerodynamics of the wind flow around the plane at high speed. It would seem if there was something light-weight or that, perhaps was non-directional, the object would have followed the path of the wind around the plane. Instead the object “hit” the plane on its nose.

What would the headlines read, if the object was only a meter or so higher?